Sweden tops list of world’s most digitally enabled countries

Sweden has topped the list in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s digital economy rankings.

The top 10 are:

1. Sweden
2. Denmark
3. United States
4. Finland
5. Netherlands
6. Norway
7. Hong Kong
8. Singapore
9. Australia
10. New Zealand

According to the EIU:

“The digital economy rankings assess the quality of a country’s information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and the ability of its consumers, businesses and governments to use ICT to their benefit. When a country uses ICT to conduct more of its activities, the economy can become more transparent and efficient. Our ranking allows governments to gauge the success of their technology initiatives against those of other countries. It also provides companies that wish to invest or trade internationally with an overview of the world’s most promising business locations from an ICT perspective.”

The annual rankings, which started in 2000, were previously known as “e-readiness rankings”. The new title, and new measures including testing the quality and price of broadband and mobile access, reflect the change in the world. That is, of the 70 countries measured are all considered to have reached the stage of “e-readiness”. The emphasis now is on measuring quality, speed and how well citizens, businesses and governments alike use the technology to their benefit.

Indeed, some North American and European nations dropped places in their rankings owing to the sluggish implementation of ultra high speed networks, especially in comparison to Asia, where heavy investment in next generation internet infrastructure has seen their place in the rankings rise.

The biggest winners:

• Japan jumped from 22 to 16
• Taiwan jumped from 16 to 12
• South Korea jumped from 19 to 13
• Finland jumped from 10 to 4

The biggest losers:

• Switzerland fell from 12 to 19^th place
• France dropped from 15 to 20
• Australia fell from 6 to 9^th place

The UK dropped one place, from 13 to 14.

Read more:

Economist Intelligence Unit, Digital economy rankings 2010: Beyond e-readiness, July 2010